Woman in SCDF sex-for-contracts trial: I gave him oral sex

Star witness, Pang Chor Mui (or Angie), making her way out of subordinate courts after her first day of taking the stand as witness. (Yahoo! Photo)

Yes, we had oral sex but there was no business interests in our tryst – said the woman in the centre of ex-SCDF chief Peter Lim’s corruption trial.

Mother-of-one Pang Chor Mui, a former general manager of Nimrod Engineering, appeared in court on Monday as the prosecution’s star witness for the first time since the sex-for-contracts trial started.

Pang described their first sexual encounter to the court, saying that it had taken place in her car after she picked up Lim, who had been drinking, from “somewhere near” the Fullerton area in Singapore’s Central Business District.

According to Pang, also known as Angie, she had driven him back to his home in Tanjong Rhu, where Lim suggested that the two “have a chat” before saying goodbye. The alleged sex act then took place.

Pang said that the two had first met in May 2010 in Norway while Pang was still employed by Cisco and Lim was a Major. They did not keep in contact again until she found out that Lim had been appointed SCDF chief. They then went for a “lavish lunch” together where they talked about their personal lives. After that, they communicated via “teasing” and intimate text messages.

Maintaining that she had not initiated any sexual contact with Lim and that he had been the one who had “unzipped his trousers”, Pang said that her employer, Nimrod Engineering, would have gone ahead with submitting their radiation portal tender to SCDF even if she had not received any inside information.

She told the court that she had performed the sex act because she “liked him (Lim) a lot” and had not “stopped to analyse” the situation, and that their tryst had been a quick one, both stopping after it “dawned” on them that they were committing it in a public place.

Pang said that the two did not meet up after that night but continued to maintain contact through flirtatious and “playful” text messages.

Their next business-related conversation took place on 11 March 2011, when Lim allegedly contacted Pang to ask about radiation portals needed to scan passengers arriving in Singapore from Japan. Pang said that she offered to source for the products, which Nimrod did not currently stock. Nimrod went on to invest in these portals and submitted their tender.

When asked by Deputy Public Prosecutor Sherlyn Neo if Lim’s text about the radiation portals had influenced Nimrod’s decision to tender, Pang said that her employer, Managing Director Tamil Selvan, would have tendered even if she did not have the information.

Pang was also asked about the nature of her relationship with Selvan and she said described it as an “intimate friendship” and that the both of them were always helping each other out. She further mentioned that their families knew each other and that they have been friends for 17 years.

She explained that they had received many similar enquiries from other companies, including major marine companies asking for the portals urgently. Pang added that she was personally not in favour of acquiring the portals as winning the tender would require Nimrod to purchase demonstration units, provide work training and ensure that they continued to work for the next 10 years.